This week’s notebook highlights CR South, Abington, William Tennent and Upper Moreland.
By Mike Prince, Sportswriter
Outside of an 11-1 non-conference loss to La Salle, this season has been very kind to Council Rock South. With wins by seven, five, six, 10, 10 and two goals, respectively, the Golden Hawks have been mowing down the competition for most of the past five weeks.
And their most recent game, despite it being the closest win for the Golden Hawks, was no different.
Last Thursday, the National Conference first-place Golden Hawks won for the sixth time in seven games following a 5-3 win over Central Bucks South of the Continental Conference.
CR South took a 4-0 lead in the second period and cruised to the victory, thanks to a two-goal performance from Mitchell Vaysman. Kyle Walter, Jevon Fillette and Jared Hershman also scored for the Golden Hawks while goalkeeper Justin Houk stopped 19 of 22 shots to earn the win.
“I thought we played a great game,” CR South coach Joe Houk said. “It was one of our better defensive games and we also got quite a bit of offense in the first two periods. We’re a very aggressive team, and we had to play with a little bit of an edge, which we’re not used to doing. We’re more of a finesse team, really. Overall, I told my guys that they get an ‘A’ for that game because they played hard and totally outplayed them from goaltending to defense.”
Houk credited his team’s success to its ability to play three successful lines.
“I run a three-line deep team and that makes a difference,” he said. “Your first line is always expected to score, but I got offense from my second and third lines, and if you’re capable of doing that, everything seems to go well.”
In other National Conference play, also last Thursday, Abington defeated host Pennsbury by a score of 2-1. The fourth-place Ghosts (2-4-0) got past the Falcons (2-7-0) thanks to goals by Nicholas Scipione and James Campbell, as well as 24 saves on 25 shots from goalkeeper Bryan Rossi, who played an excellent game to help lead Abington to the win.
“Pennsbury is a very good, physical and well-coached team,” Abington coach Pat Croce said. “It’s always a defensive struggle when we play them, and we played a very close game. It was a good battle both ways.”
With three of Abington’s five defensemen in the penalty box for what was a 5-of-3 power play for Pennsbury, Rossi came up with his biggest stops of the game.
“Bryan is a very talented goalie, and he basically killed off a penalty kill down two men,” Croce said. “That was big. We didn’t allow them to score and the defense came up big.”
Nigel Nonegger scored the lone goal for Pennsbury, which saw goalkeeper Ben Herring stop 23 shots in the losing effort.
The Ghosts will visit Neshaminy (2-6-0) in another National Conference matchup this Thursday at 7:20 p.m. at Grundy Rink A. The Redskins tied Upper Dublin, 5-5, last Thursday in a non-conference meeting. In the tie, Matt Kaleck and Nick Foster (two goals apiece), Steve Lee (one goal, one assist) and Eric Graham (two assists) led the way for Neshaminy.
While Abington and CR South have had recent success, one National Conference team that has been struggling is William Tennent (3-4-0), a team that currently sits in third place.
After winning three consecutive games back in November, the Panthers found themselves on the losing end of the scoreboard in three consecutive games, including losses to Central Bucks East and North Penn, before losing 11-1 to Souderton last Thursday.
In the 10-goal loss, the Panthers got a power play goal from Andre Bean in the first period, but allowed Souderton (6-2-0), the first place team in the Continental Conference, to outscore them 9-0 in the final two periods.
The Indians received three goals and an assist from Daniel Rock in the win. Connor McCausland, Brannon Evans and Clay Anders each scored twice for Souderton. Kyle LeSage added two assists, as did Evans, while Dylan Manto added one goal and one assist.
Tennent coach Nick D’Aurizio credits poor discipline and injuries to his team’s recent woes.
“It’s just typical midseason stuff between injuries and penalties and we’re really putting ourselves behind the eight ball,” the Panthers’ coach said. “We are finally getting healthy though, and we’re addressing the discipline issue and I think we’re going to start playing better.”
Despite the three straight losses, Tennent is in fact coming off a win in its most recent game, a 6-3 win over Lansdale Catholic last Friday in what was a charity game recently scheduled by the two teams.
“It was basically an exhibition,” D’Aurizio said, “but it was a step in the right direction. We’re just trying to push forward and prove ourselves and I think the guys are starting to turn the corner.”
Sitting in second place in the National Conference is Council Rock North, which holds a 4-1-1 league record. CR North won its last game over Central Bucks East by a score of 3-0 on Dec. 6, but the Indians have not played since. They will visit Central Bucks West on Wednesday night at 7:20 p.m. at Hatfield Blue.
Moving to the American Conference where Archbishop Wood sits atop the standings with an undefeated league record, it was Upper Moreland’s goaltending that helped lead the Bears to a 2-1 non-conference win over Central Bucks West last Thursday.
Matthew Baumgardner scored both goals for the Bears (4-2-0), while Jared Burch stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced to earn the win.
“I thought our team played really well,” Upper Moreland coach Jim Stampler said. “They (CB West) were a better team than we thought they were coming in and it was a handful handling them, but I thought our kids played really well. We shut down their top line.
“Our goalie played really well and we’ve gotten good goaltending all year, which is number-one for us. That and our defense has always been big, and they have both stepped up this year and they’re playing with a lot more confidence. That’s really helping us out. I think our defense and also our second line is as good as most other teams out there and that keeps us in games.”
The Bears face Wissahickon in an American Conference matchup on Thursday at Wintersports Ice Sports Arena. The two teams will square off at 9 p.m.
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